Soluble foamer or creamer ingredients which, upon addition of a liquid, are able to provide a creamy foam have many uses in foods and beverages. For example, these ingredients may be used to provide milk shakes and cappuccino beverages. They may also be used to generate foam in desserts, soups, and sauces.
Soluble coffee beverage powders, which produce cappuccino beverages when dissolved in water are particularly well known. Usually these products are a dry mix of a soluble coffee powder and a soluble creamer powder. The soluble beverage creamer may contain pockets of gas which, upon dissolution of the powder, produce foam. Therefore, upon the addition of water or milk (usually hot), a whitened coffee beverage, which has a foam on its upper surface, is formed; the beverage resembling, to a greater or lesser extent, traditional Italian cappuccino. Examples of these gassed soluble beverage creamers are described in European patent applications EP 0 154 192, EP 0 458 310 and EP 0 885 566. Soluble beverage creamers which contain inorganic foaming agents instead of entrapped gas are also available.
Ideally, to closely resemble a traditional Italian cappuccino, a light, fluffy, spooneable and stable foam should form on the surface of the beverage. However, quite often the foam produced by many soluble cappuccino powders is not light, fluffy and spooneable. Further, the amount of foam produced is often much less than that ordinarily found on a traditional cappuccino. The amount of foam may, to some extent, be increased by increasing the amount of soluble beverage creamer in the coffee beverage product. However this negatively influences the flavour balance of the beverage which is not always desirable.
In general, several methods exist to make a soluble coffee beverage delivering a “milk-type” foam layer upon reconstitution. Among these methods the following three deserve some further mentioning.
The first method, which is often used relates to porous coffee whitener containing gas at atmospheric pressure. Examples are found in the following patent publications U.S. Pat. No. 4,438,147 (Foaming creamer and method of making same), AU 645566 (Powdered foaming coffee whitener, process and apparatus for producing same and powdered mixture for making coffee beverages), U.S. Pat. No. 4,746,527 (Drink composition), DE 60020291 (Cappuccino creamer with improved foaming characteristics), and EP 1 064 850 (Foaming cappuccino creamer containing gasified carbohydrate). This first method comprises products, which upon reconstitution deliver a slowly forming relatively small layer of foam on top of the beverage.
The second method relates to the use of chemical foaming systems. Examples of this method are found in the following patent publications, DE 4407361 (Milk powder-free cappuccino coffee drink mixture) and EP 0 796 562 (Foaming coffee creamer and instant hot cappuccino). This second group represents a technology, which is not commonly used in the industry. The addition of chemical gassing ingredients can, but does not necessarily, lead to unpleasant taste deviations in the final beverage. In addition these type of products may be perceived by the consumer as too chemical.
The third method makes use of a foamer ingredient consisting of a porous matrix containing gas under pressure. Examples of this method are found in the following patent publications, WO 01/08504 (Foaming ingredient and powders containing it), WO 2006/023565 (Non-carbohydrate foaming compositions and methods of making the same) and WO 2006/023564 (Non-protein foaming composition and methods of making the same). The third group particularly WO 01/08504 delivers a fast developing, high amount of foam of a nice milk foam type dense and spooneable texture.
It has been found that the inclusion of particles of roast and ground coffee beans in soluble coffee products can improve the aroma of these products. Such products are e.g. disclosed in DE 19700084, GB 2022394 and WO 2010/005604. These products may e.g. be produced by introducing particles of roast and ground coffee into a liquid extract of coffee beans and drying the resulting product into a powder. Alternatively, they may be produced by simply mixing dry powders of coffee extract and roast and ground coffee particles, respectively.